D Guitar Chord

There are different ways of playing the D Guitar chord. I'm going to show the one I use (with the other method you simply swap your 1st and 2nd fingers). Look at the D Chord Chart. The X above the 6th string means this string should not be played when strumming the chord.

A different view: This is where you will press the strings on the neck

D Guitar Chord Chart

D Guitar ChordFollow the instructions on the D chord chart and press the 3rd string on the second fret, the 2nd string of the third fret and the 1st string on the 2nd fret. This is what it should look like:

Remember to only allow your fingers to touch and press the strings you're supposed to fret. Don't touch any of the other strings. If you do they will sound muted and the chord will not resonate clearly. This is something your hand needs to learn and will take time.

Time to strum...While pressing the D chord with your left hand, you are now going to perform the basic strumming pattern with your right hand. This is what it should look and sound like:

Okay, let's try a three chord combinationLet's combine Em, G and D and try to switch between thesethree chords while keeping the basic strumming pattern going.

Practise until you are able to switch fluently between G, Em and D without interrupting the strumming pattern.

Start with Em and play a full bar (1&2&3&4&), switch to G before the next 1 count and then to D before the next 1 count. Then finally switch back to Em to complete a full bar of music. Do it slowly at first and increase your speed as you get better. This is what it should look and sound like:

At this point you can take some time to practice the D chord and the switch between D, G and Em. Experiment with these chords and try switching between different ones using alternate strumming patterns.

Guitar Gear

Resources

How to do this? Well just try and miss the 6th string on every strum. If you do strum it every now in again, it's not the end of the world, but for the D to sound crisp and clean you need the 6th string muted.